2
1 Then
after a period
of fourteen years
I went up
again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas, taking
Titus also with
me.
2 I
went up
by revelation, and
I laid before
them the Good
News which I
preach among the
Gentiles, but
privately before
those who
were respected, for
fear that I
might be running,
or had run,
in vain.
3 But
not even Titus,
who was with
me, being a
Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised.
4 This
was because of
the false brothers
secretly brought
in, who stole in
to spy out
our liberty which
we have in
Christ Jesus, that
they might bring
us into bondage,
5 to
whom we gave
no place in
the way of
subjection, not
for an hour,
that the truth of
the Good News
might continue
with you.
6 But
from those who
were reputed to
be important—whatever
they were, it
makes no
difference to me;
God doesn’t show
partiality to
man—they, I
say, who
were respected imparted nothing
to me,
7 but
to the contrary,
when they saw
that I had been
entrusted with the
Good News for
the uncircumcised, even
as Peter with
the Good News
for the
circumcised—
8 for
he who
worked through Peter
in the apostleship
with the
circumcised also
worked through me
with the Gentiles—
9 and
when they
perceived the
grace that was
given to me,
James and Cephas
and John, those
who were reputed
to be pillars,
gave to Barnabas
and me the
right hand of
fellowship, that
we should go
to the Gentiles,
and they to
the circumcision.
10 They
only asked us to
remember the
poor—which very
thing I was
also zealous to do.
11 But
when Peter came
to Antioch, I resisted
him to his
face, because
he stood condemned.
12 For
before some people
came from James,
he ate with
the Gentiles. But
when they came,
he drew back
and separated himself,
fearing those who
were of the
circumcision.
13 And
the rest of
the Jews joined
him in his
hypocrisy, so that
even Barnabas was
carried away with
their hypocrisy.
14 But
when I saw
that they didn’t
walk uprightly
according to
the truth of the
Good News, I
said to Peter
before them all,
“If you, being
a Jew, live
as the Gentiles
do, and not
as the Jews
do, why do
you compel the
Gentiles to live
as the Jews
do?
15 “We,
being Jews by
nature and not
Gentile sinners,
16 yet
knowing that a
man is not
justified by the
works of the
law but through
faith in Jesus
Christ, even we
believed in Christ
Jesus, that we
might be justified
by faith in
Christ and not
by the works
of the law,
because no flesh
will be justified
by the works
of the law.
17 But
if while we
sought to be
justified in
Christ, we
ourselves also
were found sinners,
is Christ a
servant of sin?
Certainly not!
18 For
if I build
up again those
things which I
destroyed, I prove
myself a law-breaker.
19 For
I through the
law died to the
law, that I
might live to
God.
20 I
have been
crucified with
Christ, and it
is no longer
I who live,
but Christ lives
in me. That
life which I
now live in
the flesh, I
live by faith
in the Son
of God, who loved
me and gave
himself up for
me.
21 I don’t
reject the grace
of God. For
if righteousness
is through the
law, then Christ
died for nothing!”